Sheldon J. Segal, 1926-2009: Inventor who developed Norplant and other contraceptives

October 23, 2009|By Patricia Sullivan, THE WASHINGTON POST

Sheldon J. Segal, 83, leader of the team that developed the contraceptive implant Norplant and several other birth-control devices used by millions of women worldwide, died of congestive heart failure Saturday in his home in Woods Hole, Mass..

Mr. Segal believed strongly in a woman's right to control her reproduction, and more than 120 million around the world have used a long-acting contraceptive developed under his guidance. In addition to Norplant, he also helped create the Mirena intrauterine device, copper-bearing IUDs and contraceptive vaginal rings, the last of which are undergoing safety and effectiveness testing.

He recoiled from suggestions by editorial writers and commentators that Norplant, which is surgically inserted into a woman's upper arm and releases the hormone progestin for up to five years, could be forced on mothers on public assistance or used to prevent teenage pregnancy on a mass scale.

Mr. Segal was not simply a technician who invented devices, but someone who cared about the safety and comfort of the women who used them, said Adrienne Germain, president of the International Women's Health Coalition.

She said Mr. Segal spent years persuading China's government to switch from ill-fitting and single-size steel IUDs to flexible copper-bearing IUDs, a key improvement that also reduced the demand for abortions in the world's most populous nation. Germain was with him in Bangladesh in the 1970s when Mr. Segal returned from a tour of contraceptive clinics and had been appalled at the unsanitary conditions and lack of skill by the providers.

"He knew services didn't have to be delivered in that way, and he worked with the government to try to improve the quality of IUD delivery -- simple matters of basic quality control, but something Shelly was attuned to," she said.

In addition to working at the Population Council, he was an adviser to Congress, the World Health Organization, the U.N. Population Fund, the World Bank and the European Parliament.